CLC Centenary – The Recruitment of Britain’s Chinese Labour Corps began in Weihaiwei

On October 31 1916 recruitment of Chinese men for the British Chinese Labour Corps (CLC) began in Weihaiwei. The War Office in London had appointed a former railway engineer, Thomas J. Bourne, to the job of organising the recruitment centre. Bourne (1864-1947) had been Engineer-in-Chief on the Peking-Hankow Railway. He’d been in China nearly 30 years when asked by the government to organise the recruiting of the CLC. Bourne was based in Peking but made the three day journey to Weihaiwei to set up the recruiting station. He arrived and began work a century ago this week – October 31st. The recruitment camp they built in Weihaiwei is shown below.

Bourne’s assistant was Theodore Roberts, a chartered accountant. The day-to-day administration of the Labour Depot (where the recruited men were camped until shipped to Europe) was handled by G.S. Moss who worked in the British Consular Service. Moss had been stationed in a number of small treaty ports including Pakhoi. He went on to become British Consul in Weihaiwei and Canton (Guangzhou) after the war. Moss was considered a good linguist and got a CBE. Moss stayed involved through till 1919 and the demobilisation of the CLC.